


Destiny

by cottoncandyboys (mik0rin)



Series: Soulmate!AUs [1]
Category: GOT7
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-07-12 06:36:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7089235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mik0rin/pseuds/cottoncandyboys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yugyeom wished he could meet his soulmate sooner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Destiny

**Author's Note:**

> written for gyeomfest @ lj back in december/january lololol thank you if anyone ever decides to pick this up as a reading lol
> 
>  
> 
> implied!JB/Suzy (Miss A) and Junior/Min (Miss A) although it's just mentioned lol
> 
> Just to situate yourself with this universe, here I have an information I couldn’t include deliberately but, in my head, the concept of soulmates is just really strong, nobody cares about genders or anything in there and that’s why Yugyeom isn’t surprised and why nobody judges anybody based on who’s your soulmate.

"How come you already got your soulmate??" Yugyeom whined to Kunpimook, who turned to stare at him with a face that said something close to _I don't know either_. "That's not faaaair!"

"Life's not fair, buddy." he said and gave the pouty boy a pat on the shoulder. Yugyeom sighed.

"How did that even _happen_?" Kunpimook smiled and leaned against the wall, their not-assigned seats were the ones at the back of the whole classroom and nobody paid much attention to them. "You barely turned eighteen, we just entered uni, yesterday actually, aren't things going too fast?"

"I think things might be going too slow for you," Kunpimook mused, no malice and yet, Yugyeom still felt hurt because he had been waiting for this for so long, ever since he was little and his mother would tell him stories about the time she got her name and how she met his father when they were graduating high school - and something about his father being held back by a year. "Besides, Mark hyung is older by four years, he got his mark first," the boy laughed and Yugyeom watched him, unamused. "Mark got his mark, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah," Yugyeom rolled his eyes and waved a hand to see if he could dismiss his best friend's silliness, it didn't really work. "Fat chance that you guys would ever met if both didn't apply for the Korean exchange program but how lucky, I can't believe a transfer student is soulmates with another transfer student, if you got held back in high school you wouldn't meet, at least not so soon, and if you had gone back to Thailand you wouldn't meet too."

"Duuh," it was Kunpimook’s time to roll his eyes. "We _are_ soulmates”

“No, but really, how did it even happen?” Yugyeom asked again, voice soft and eyes focusing on his own lap, fingers playing with the pencil he had in hands. Kunpimook leaned over, eyeing his surroundings slightly to see if anyone was paying attention, but the whole classroom - professor included - could care less.

“You know how Mark hyung is older, right? ‘Kay so like, when we got into uni and all, which I would really say that was a miracle,” he said amused. “We had the welcoming ceremony with all the students and everything and he told me that I passed by his side and at that exact same moment he felt behind his left ear burning a little, that’s where his mark is by the way, and I felt it too but on my nape, and I think you remember the rest.”

“He reached out and pulled you by the arm and asked your name, yada yada yada. Yeah, I know,” Yugyeom puffed his cheeks and drew a line at the empty corner of his notebook. “Is that all that has to it?”

Kunpimook laughed, in a low voice because everyone else was busy and, obviously, it would be incredibly unwise to disturb the class.

“It’s nice,” he said to Yugyeom, who sulked and received a poke on his sides with Kunpimook’s elbow. “Romantic even.”

He groaned in return and rested his head on his own arms, focusing his attention back to class, that was enough for Kunpimook to get the message and get himself to pay attention as well - he knew Yugyeom was still a little bitter about it.

“Though, he knew his soulmate was Thai and I am the only Thai kid around, plus I was obviously the only one near him at the time that could be it, I don’t look Korean and neither does my name sound like it is, so it was easier,” he explained and got no response from his friend. “It’s not my fault that you were born in November or that your soulmate is not close to us.” Kunpimook whispered the rest of his explanation and Yugyeom tried to hide a snort, everything was going to be fine - at least by now.

 

 

“Bam, are you going to leave me behind and go have lunch with your new boyfriend?” Yugyeom asked, masking his loneliness uselessly, Kunpimook tittered at his silliness.

“First of all, he’s not my _boyfriend_ , Mark hyung is my _soulmate_ ,” _meh, same thing_ Yugyeom replied and Kunpimook ignored. “And second, of course not, who said I was going to leave you and just hang around Mark hyung?”

“Nobody,” Yugyeom mumbled and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Sorry, I’m still bitter, aren’t I?”

“Very,” replied the boy and Yugyeom sulked some more. “But look on the brighter side, you can ask him about soulmates, I think your mother never really got into details about it, right?”

“Yeeaah, she’s still pretty vague nowadays, and now that we room at the dorms here I don’t get to ask her anything at all.”

“There there,” Yugyeom received two pats on his arm and a smile from Kunpimook. “Let’s go before the food gets cold or sold out, I don’t know, I think Mark hyung is already having lunch.”

“Didn’t you say we were going to grab something at the small family restaurant at the other side? I don’t think they know what we’re going to order at all.”

“Shhhh, stop talking back and let’s just go, we’re wasting time.”

Yugyeom bumped into a few people, by accident, while he followed the overly excited boy in front of him.

The wind was strong and Yugyeom regretted leaving his jacket inside a locker, he often forgot that if his birthday was nearing, it meant that winter was nearing as well and that he should always carry a sweater - or whatever would keep him warm - along, he shook his head and kept on following Kunpimook.

When he finally reached Kunpimook, Mark was already with him, listening to whatever his small soulmate - Kunpimook was getting taller though - was saying with a shy smile on his face.

“And Yugi is still really really salty over it,” he heard and cried inside. “Can you belivphhhhh-”

There was a hand on Kunpimook’s mouth, one laughing Mark Tuan and a ‘not really angry but still pretty angry’ Yugyeom.

“What are you doing?” he asked through gritted teeth and Kunpimook bit his finger, Yugyeom wiped it on his shirt and let go of him. “Don’t go around gossiping.”

“It’s not gossip if I know it’s true,” Kunpimook retorted and stuck his tongue out at him. “Besides, it’s not like Mark hyung is gonna think anything about it, it’s just amusing.”

“And a little cute,” Mark said from the sideways and Yugyeom groaned, hiding behind his hands. “But it’s also normal,” he tried to reason with him. “Bambam said you’re curious and wants to talk to me, we should go to the restaurant as soon as possible, mostly because I’m hungry.”

Once again, Yugyeom followed, a little lifeless but that was just because he was still feeling exposed by Kunpimook saying whatever he wanted to everyone - just Mark, really.

“So you want to know how I knew Bambam’s actual name since I’m from the States and know nothing about how to read Thai?” Mark said with his mouth full of rice, Yugyeom nodded and put a spoonful of tofu into his. “Easy, I have a Chinese friend who knows a lot of languages and though he’s not fluent in Thai, he can’t even read or speak, he knows how the writing looks like, so I looked for the exchange student that used to live in the dorms and he read it for me. Anyway, I can’t look behind my ear, so I had to ask someone to do it for me when I felt it burning there.”

Yugyeom nodded - and so did Kunpimook - with a look expressing that _makes sense_ , he resumed eating for the next two minutes before he spoke again. “So it feels like it’s burning twice?”

“Yeah, I know I’m no expert with this, _but_ as far as I know and heard of, it burns when you get it at eighteen and then once again when you’re close to your soulmate and they already have the mark, otherwise you won’t feel anything,” described Mark as he poked his rice and dumplings around. “It’s quite an interesting subject that needs more study, if anyone decides to do it.”

The younger boy bit his lip, dishes already empty and stomach full, he gave it a deep thought before he said anything, Mark beat him to it.

“What are you majoring in?” he asked, mostly because he had nothing to say anymore, and Yugyeom snapped out of his thoughts, Kunpimook ate his meal in silence and listened to their conversation with interest.

“Sociology,” Yugyeom replied sipping his lukewarm tea. “And as you probably know, Bam majors in political science and we have some classes together, it’s a blessing because I know nobody in any of my classes that don’t have him. And you major in…..?”

“Mathematics, mostly because I’m crazy,” said Mark as he smiled at himself. “I’m joking, I like numbers and solving problems and yeah, I like my major, I don’t know how to explain.”

“That’s really cool, I sucked at Math back in high school.” Yugyeom added and rested his chin on the palm of his hands.

“You still do, bro.” the boy glared at Kunpimook and Mark just laughed like he was doing so since they met.

 

 

“How much time left until it’s your birthday?” Mark asked Yugyeom when they met at the hallway - they lived in the same building, just different floors - Mark on his way to meet Kunpimook and Yugyeom ready to get some coffee at the café on the next block.

“About a week,” Yugyeom replied.

“Have you felt anywhere itching or something?” he made a second question and Yugyeom closed his right eye and stared at the ceiling.

“I felt something that felt like it on the inner side of my left arm, is that it?”

“It might be,” Mark mused and scratched his head. “But it might not as well.”

“Which?” Yugyeom exclaimed and Kunpimook opened the door at the loud chatting coming from outside, sweater halfway through his head, one arm still not properly in and his nose still covered with the fabric.

“I’m not sure, I’m not a specialist, but it might be appearing soon,” he added. “Mine didn’t appear on the exact day of my birthday.”

“Neither did mine!” Kunpimook’s shout came out all muffled by his fluffy sweater and Mark held a giggle but Yugyeom noticed it anyway, they were disgusting(ly cute).

Later on the same day, a small ㅊ appeared on the exact same place that Yugyeom mentioned - it burnt like an ant’s bite.

 

By the time that Yugyeom’s birthday arrived, the name was completed, whenever a new letter appeared, he felt a little pang in the area but the feeling didn’t linger for more than a second, if he was distracted he could’ve easily missed it.

최영재 it read, in a very neat handwriting and Yugyeom was ecstatic, more than just happy, he just had to find out who this person was.

“I don’t know a Choi Youngjae,” Kunpimook had said. “At least nobody in the same area as us, I don’t remember coming across anyone with that name during my classes. You should definitely tell and ask Mark hyung.”

“Will do that!” Yugyeom shouted before he closed the door from their room, rushing to the stairs and knocking continuously on Mark’s door.

“Who tell hell is it?” yelled a voice and Yugyeom recognized it as Jaebum, Mark’s handsome but stupidly grumpy roommate. “Tell me or I’m not opening the door.”

“Hyung,” Yugyeom wailed and Jaebum grunted a _just say who it is already, dammit, so I can avoid opening the door if it’s someone unwanted_. “It is I, Kim Yugyeom. Is Mark hyung there? Please, let me in.”

There was a click and as soon as the door opened Jaebum’s usual bothered face was visible - that was his default expression whenever Yugyeom was around, but truth was that he knew he was a good kid, but now he just had to keep the facade -, Yugyeom greeted him, he got a _it’s too early for this_ as reply from him, and looked around, when he sighted the familiar blond hair, he ran up to the person - Mark, of course.

“Hyung!!!” Mark stared at him and waited for the news. “It’s here! Can you believe it?”

“Happy birthday, Yugi,” the elder announced and jumped back a little, smiling. “Is it about the mark?” His small smile grew wider as Yugyeom shook his head vigorously. “Tell me about it.”

“It was there when I woke up,” he explained with a fixed grin on his lips and excited eyes looking everywhere and nowhere at the same time. “I don’t know this person but I hope they live close by,” he whispered dreamily and noticed that Jaebum was sprawled on his bed, texting someone - probably Suji - and still paying attention to what they were talking about - Yugyeom hoped that he could help him if he was able to. “Do you know any Youngjae? More specifically, one whose last name is Choi?”

The snort came from the occupied bed and Yugyeom turned to look in time to witness Jaebum burying his face into the mattress and getting up abruptly, putting his shoes on and grabbing a coat before leaving the room laughing to himself.

“Is he okay?” Yugyeom asked, concerned and Mark dismissed it with a wave of a hand. “What does Jaebum hyung even do at uni?”

“Performing arts, he’s usually out the whole day but then, sometimes he’s in the room the whole day, so I don’t know a thing about it,” Mark clarified and Yugyeom nodded. “Anyway, you were saying?”

“I don’t know who’s Choi Youngjae, but I suppose it’s a boy, so it makes things easier.”

“We narrow it down by half then,” Mark thinks out loud. “I will look around and let you know if I get anything that might be of help, by now I think you should just live normally and things will happen naturally.”

He remained in silence after that, processing the information and what he should do or work on, Yugyeom agreed with a shake of his hand and a _thank you_ before saying that he would go back to his room to shower and get ready for class.

“So how did it go?” asked his roommate as soon as he was back into their room, hair up and still messy from the time Yugyeom ran from there.

“Okay, I think,” he said and Kunpimook shot him a look of doubt. “I mean it!”

“Sure, whatever you say~” he half sang, half yawned his reply and got up from the bed, taking his towel from a chair and running to the bathroom before Yugyeom could act and block his way because that was _his_ plan before he entered the room. The door clicked shut and he groaned, making his way to lie on his bed and wait for Kunpimook to be done.

 

 

Since November had started, everyone looked like they were already on December, as if they had fast forwarded time and it was already near Christmas, when in reality, it was more than a month away and the first batch of exams were coming up, Yugyeom saw some students chatting lively by a bunch of lockers, another group with their faces shoved into books and even the hockey team running around in their uniform - who the hell allowed them to do this inside the building on a normal day? -, basically speaking, the halls were absolutely packed with all types of people doing all kinds of things and Yugyeom was observing everyone with curiosity, wondering if his soulmate was around, but he felt nothing.

 _Do you really think that he would even attend this university?_ his conscience told him in between his reveries and Yugyeom had to shake his head to get rid of the lingering of those thoughts, he could manage it with some positive thinking. “But maybe he is here.” he mumbled to himself and started walking, making his way past the sea of people and bumping into some, trying to avoid it as much as possible, but he deemed the task impossible, he would have to push through the crowd to get to his ethnomethodology lecture at the end of the corridor.

“Excuse me, excuse me, I’m trying to pass,” he exclaimed and sighed, hugging his shoulder bag close to his body and running past it like a bullet train - not quite it, but he tried - and he ended up knocking a few down, he muttered his sorrys and half shouted an explanation - _Lecture. Gonna be late. Sorry. Gotta go_ \- and he completely ignored the soft tingling on his arm until he was standing on the other side of that mass, his hand touched his arm and then he hit his forehead with it, he would’ve ruminated for longer about it, but he really was late and had no time to stop and search for the person, his classes were as important as this and one would go and the other would still be there if he searched enough, so he chose what sounded wiser and ran into the classroom before the door was closed.

He sighed and ran his fingers on his mark through his sweater when he was already sat - and internally sad, partially regretful over it.

 

 

“I’m so stupid!” he cried when he met Kunpimook for lunch, they were walking together, searching for something to eat - Yugyeom wasn’t fond of cafeteria food even in university, so they often tried to find something tasty and cheap around - and his friend tried to comfort him with a pat on his back. “I could’ve found my soulmate and I Fucked. Shit. Up.”

Kunpimook shook his head, most likely amused by him and kept on walking while staring straight ahead.

“Isn’t that Mark’s roommate over there?” he asked Yugyeom who was still looking at his feet with a pout. “Let’s say hi, hey, Jaeb-”

“Shhhhhhhhh,” Yugyeom said and put a hand on Kunpimook’s mouth and pulling him somewhere else, far from Jaebum because Yugyeom was truthfully still a little scared of him and saw the elder dragging someone with him that wasn’t Suji and he was afraid that it would mean trouble. “Let’s eat somewhere else.”

“Don’t tell me you’re _still_ afraid of Jaebum hyung?” Kunpimook bumped shoulders with him and laughed. “Because that’s stupid, I’ve seem Jaebum in his natural habitat and he’s a loser,” Yugyeom frowned, not quite believing but pretending to with a nod. “Forever clapping my hands for Suji for dealing with him, he’s awful, whiny hyung and I shouldn’t talk about things you don’t take part in, sorry.”

The wind hit Yugyeom and he brought his arms closer to his body, he whispered a _whatever_ and buried his face on his scarf.

“But you know, Mark doesn’t want to invite you to go out with us because he says you’re going to feel lonely by yourself and when you find your soulmate you can come and uh, my explanation is not sounding that good, sorry.” Yugyeom waved a hand, dismissing his apology - he knew why he wasn’t invited to go with them, of course he knew.

“Enough talking,” he stopped abruptly and Kunpimook turned to look at him, Yugyeom changed directions - they were going around the building - and walked faster towards the opposite direction, where they were preciously. “I’m suddenly craving bad food, so let’s eat at the cafeteria.”

Kunpimook turned to take a last look at where they were heading to and saw Jaebum there - again - and smiled secretly, Yugyeom was way ahead of him, arms swinging from side to side and he marched quickly to where he said he would.

 

 

“Found ya!” Jaebum clasped a hand on Yugyeom’s shoulder while he was in line, waiting for his turn to get his damned lunch. Yugyeom held back a groan from escaping. “I have something for you.”

Jaebum manhandled a boy who looked like he was not happy about what was happening, anyone would be able to tell by the expression he had on his face.

“This is my friend, he’s-”

“Not supposed to be here,” he said through gritted teeth and shook his body away from Jaebum, huffing and fixing his clothes, he had a few books under one of his arms and a red cap on his head, he frantically tried to fit his hands into the sleeve of his shirt, but it was too short to work. “If you excuse me, I’m taking my leave.”

And just like that, he left, Jaebum sighing and Yugyeom eyeing him suspiciously because of how he was acting.

“What was that?” he asked Kunpimook with a rushed whisper.

“No idea.”

Jaebum groaned out loud and strode away without a word.

“Tell Mark he has weird friends and he should probably search for a new roommate.” Kunpimook laughed and pushed Yugyeom, the line was moving.

Later on that day, Yugyeom met Jinyoung by accident on his way to the dorms, Jaebum was with him and Yugyeom’s intuition told him to run for his life, but at the same time, it’d be rude because he was, after all, acquainted with said Im Jaebum - and Park Jinyoung -, so it wouldn’t really be a nice choice to do so, mostly because he was already sighted by both.

“Sorry about earlier,” said Jaebum and Yugyeom took a preventive step back, Jinyoung laughed. “You okay?”

“Yeeeeeeah,” Yugyeom dragged that single word for a little more than necessary and Jaebum frowned, one of his usual actions, and Jinyoung slapped his arm, as if he was telling him to not scare the kid - aka Yugyeom. “Why? What are you sorry for?”

“Nothing,” Jaebum replied, too fast, and Jinyoung nudged him with his elbow, making Jaebum’s eyes pierce into his and mutter something that Yugyeom couldn’t catch. “Why don’t you chat a little with Jinyoungie while I, uhm, go do something I have to do?”

“Okay?” Yugyeom replied-asked and Jinyoung shifted from Jaebum’s side to his, an arm going around his shoulders and a bright smile on his lips, teeth showing. Yugyeom still suspicious of Jaebum - and now Jinyoung too. “Hello? Hyung, are you okay?” he asked, unsure of what to say, the smile Jinyoung had on was somewhat creepy.

“Hey hey, I’m fine,” he replied and the smile grew wider, his eyes were even smiling along with him. “Do you have anything you want to ask me?”

His brain stopped for a short span of time, Yugyeom mused over that inquiry for a while before something was lit inside him and he shook his head.

“Do you perhaps know someone named Choi Youngjae?” he asked, hope in his eyes as Jinyoung stared into them, amusement suddenly found its way to his expression and Yugyeom felt discomfit. “I shouldn’t have asked, forget it.”

“Oh, I do, actually,” Yugyeom’s incessant sighing halted as he turned his head so fast it made his vision a little blurred at the edges. Jinyoung laughed, wholeheartedly this time. “We have English classes together, I take Dance and share some classes with Jaebum, since he majors in Theater, and Youngjae is in our extra English ones, it’s optional for us but mandatory for him since he’s an English Literature student.”

“Really? I’ve got a request, I know it’s out of nowhere, but-”

“Oh, Jaebum is coming back,” Jinyoung exclaimed, overly excited and Yugyeom found it….weird, so he didn’t dare search for his hyung and, instead, he just waited until he reached the both of them. “I see, so you managed to do it.”

“Sure thing.” Jaebum replied and Yugyeom looked from left to right, closed his eyes and directioned his line of sight towards the elder's voice. All he saw was Jaebum holding a kid by the collar of his shirt, the kid from earlier.

“Let me go, why do you keep bothering me?” he fixed his clothes like the last time, touched his cap - probably out of habit - and Yugyeom watched everything, curious. “Hyung,” the red cap boy said. “You’re really annoying.”

“You’re welcome,” Jaebum said with a smiled. “I wanted to introduce you to my, hmm, friend.”

Yugyeom grimaced at the title he got and turned to stare at Jinyoung, who by the way averted his gaze from him and pretended to dedicate his attention to the tree a few meters from them.

“And for that you had to disturb my reading time? My precious reading time, to drag me outside, it’s cold and I am not happy, who the hell is your _friend_?” he quoted the last word with his fingers, narrowed his eyes at a Jaebum rubbing the back of his neck and then looked around, while holding his backpack closer he glared at Jinyoung, who only smiled - that was all he did the whole day -, and fixed his eyes on Yugyeom, the boy pressed his lips into a tight line and took one deep breath before he said anything. “H-hello.”

The change of attitude caught Yugyeom a little of guard, he was expecting to be yelled at, to be called a name or something but all he got was complete silence and a boy smaller than him opening and closing his mouth, occasionally turning to glare at a sheepish Jaebum.

“Are you the kid Jaebum hyung was dragging around?” Yugyeom asked to try making things less awkward. Cap boy looked up at him and knitted his eyebrows.

“I’m older than you,” he said and huffed, Jaebum snickered from the side along with Jinyoung and the boy looked like he was able to blow them up with a well aimed stare. “But yes, it’s me.”

“How do you know I’m not older than you?”

“Because I do, I know,” he replied, quietly and Yugyeom looked at Jaebum from the corner of his eyes, in time to witness him trying to sneak out of there. “Hey!” the boy shouted when he saw the exact same thing Yugyeom did, but then, both boys started sprinting towards the dorms’ general direction, pushing each other, trying to be faster and leaving Yugyeom and Jaebum’s said friend behind - red cap boy looked pissed for some reason. “I can’t believe he’s legit doing this.” he mumbled to himself and Yugyeom hid his hands into his pockets and puffed some air, watching the hot air condensing with the cold winter one.

Kunpimook was absolutely right, Jaebum was a loser.

“Argh,” the boy complained and kicked the ground, dropping his hands to the side and running them through his hair right after, messing it up, then sighing and fixing it back to place. Yugyeom found it amusing - and just a little endearing. “I’m sorry, they’re so stupid.”

“I’m Yugyeom,” he said to the boy, he wanted to stop calling him _red cap boy_ when referring to him in the future. “Nice to meet you!”

“I know,” the boy coughed once. “I mean, nice to meet you too,” the boy muttered, reaching out to shake the hand in front of himself. “I’m……..”

His eyes blinked quickly as he tried to make out what the words the boy whispered were, Yugyeom leaned in closer but it didn’t work at all. He tilted his head, hoping he would get the message and repeat it.

The boy smiled, but it dropped as soon as it came, Yugyeom didn’t know where to look.

“I’m…....jae,” he whispered, took a deep breath with his eyes closed and took one step back. “Youngjae. _That_ Choi Youngjae, sorry.”

“Oh,” Yugyeom said as response, controlling himself to not yell at his face or do something too weird. He closed his fists inside the pockets of his jacket and smiled, a small laugh trying to make its way out of his throat. “You knew I was your soulmate,” Yugyeom said, not asked, Youngjae looked at his feet and nodded his head. Yugyeom gulped, his hands shaking, not from the cold and he bit back his lips and his words. “I-I have to go.”

 

 

“Hey, you’re back late, did something happen?” Kunpimook asked as soon as Yugyeom was past the entrance, but Yugyeom just walked past him, grabbed a change of clothes plus his towel and locked himself inside the bathroom. The sound of running water calming himself down and Kunpimook knocking on it, but he ignored his friend for now.

 

 

_“I didn’t really plan on letting you know I was your soulmate,” Youngjae said, Yugyeom tried to blink the tears away from his eyes, not wanting him to see how sad he was by listening those words. “I don’t believe in soulmates and I also don’t believe a name randomly appearing in someone’s body is the truth. I don’t want you as my soulmate.”_

_He watched Youngjae’s back as he walked away, not earning a single glance back, no regret. Yugyeom rubbed his eyes and let himself drop to the floor, curling up and hugging his legs close to his chest, the small hiccups of his sobbing echoing in his head. He had never felt something like this, but all he knew was that he hated it._

Yugyeom’s eyes shot up as soon as he heard the tree branches scraping the window, the wind was apparently quite strong outside and he took one shaky breath, bringing his hand up to his chest.

It was a dream, just a really bad dream.

He turned to look to his side, Kunpimook was still deep asleep and Yugyeom would feel bad for waking him up from his peaceful sleep, so all he did was close his eyes again.

 

 

The bitterness of his dream still lingered at the back of his mind, Yugyeom spent half of his classes absent minded and confused with himself.

There was a hand waving in front of his eyes and Kunpimook asking if he was feeling okay because classes were over, everyone was leaving and he was still there, sat, with his notebook open and pencil on his mouth.

“Huh?” Yugyeom blinked his eyes, focusing on his friend’s concerned face.

“I asked if you’re feeling okay,” he repeated his words that went unnoticed; slowly, Yugyeom nodded his head and muttered a _I’m fine, man_. Kunpimook snorted but said nothing, he threw Yugyeom’s belongings inside his shoulder bag and pulled him out of the classroom by the wrist. “Let’s go somewhere, you’re not okay.”

As if destiny was not on Yugyeom’s side, as soon as they left the building they saw Jaebum dragging someone by the sleeve of their shirt, and Yugyeom easily recognized the person as Youngjae, he considered escaping but again, he thought it’d be rude, so he stayed with Kunpimook, waiting for them to reach where they were.

“What a nice day, right?” Jinyoung said with his arms open. “I even feel like passing by Minyoung’s class.”

“Why don’t you just go then?” Youngjae said without exchanging a single glance with him.

“Nah, I don’t want to.”

“Then don’t say things you’re not going to do.” he rolled his eyes and turned a page of his book.

Jaebum shook his head and took the book away from Youngjae’s hands, he put the bookmark where he was reading and closed it, giving it back to Youngjae and threatening him with a glare.

“Let’s get something to eat!” he announced and Kunpimook agreed, much to Yugyeom’s dismay.

“Pass,” Youngjae interrupted. “I have to return this book to the library.”

“Weren’t you reading it just now?” Jinyoung questioned with a raised brow, arms crossed in front of his chest, Jaebum nodding along with his speech.

“No, I already finished it yesterday, I was just rereading a few parts,” he explained. “If you don’t mind, I will take my leave.”

He held the book with both hands and walked to the opposite direction - the exact same path they made before meeting with Yugyeom and Kunpimook.

“I’m not hungry,” Yugyeom bowed his head and slowly followed Youngjae, feeling the burning stares from his friends that he left behind to have lunch by themselves. “Hey, Youngjae! Wait a sec.”

“What?” he answered, not turning his head to look at Yugyeom but sounding curious enough to let the younger boy take bigger steps and close the gap between them faster. “I can go there by myself.”

“Don’t you like me at all?” Yugyeom asked blatantly, eyes fixed on the ground and hands clutching at the hem of Youngjae’s coat. “I mean, I’m sorry.”

“We’ve been saying _sorry_ s quite a lot recently, I think we should go to the library, take a seat and chat,” Youngjae said and held Yugyeom’s hand, opening his fingers so he would let go of his clothes. “Come with me.”

The librarian was a really likeable lady, she chatted merrily with Youngjae, gave Yugyeom a big welcoming smile and said that they could take any seat they wanted because the place was completely empty aside from them being there. Youngjae silently made his way to a small two seat table by the window.

He sat down and pointed at the vacant one, telling Yugyeom to take it with just a movement of his hand. Yugyeom didn’t question, he did as told and watched Youngjae with attentive eyes.

“Okay, so first of all, can I make a request?” Youngjae said after a minute of no exchange of words between them. “Can I see your mark? I’ve been curious about it.”

His cheeks looked softly glazed with red as he spoke and Yugyeom opened his mouth, perplexed - he was expecting a part of his bad dreams from last night to come true. He pulled the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows and showed it to him.

Without a word, Youngjae, from across the table, took Yugyeom’s arm into his hands and ran a finger over his mark, eyeing the three sets of letters softly and then looking up at the young boy.

“Did you know that the mark is written with the soulmate’s handwriting?” Youngjae asked and Yugyeom said no by shaking his head. “It’s usually a pretty small mark, you can feel it when it appears and once when you cross paths with your soulmate when both already have theirs. But I’m assuming you already knew this.”

“Yes,” replied Yugyeom, eyes on Youngjae’s finger still stroking the small mark on his left arm. “Where is yours?”

Youngjae let go and Yugyeom almost felt sad. The elder fixed his hat - today it was a blue open crow type of hat that poorly matched Youngjae’s striped shirt and black coat - and opened the cuffs of his shirt, pulling it up slightly and revealing an even smaller handwritten on his wrist.

“Can I see it?” Yugyeom asked, fixated gaze on there and opened mouth in slight surprise. Youngjae let him take his hand and look at it. “It really is my handwriting, this is so amazing, how does it even happen?”

“I have no idea,” Youngjae remarked and watched as Yugyeom examinated his wrist in amazement. “And no, it’s not that I don’t like you, I just don’t really understand the idea of soulmates, I mean-”

Yugyeom’s brain short circuited for about a minute while Youngjae spoke, it blocked everything and Yugyeom stopped paying attention until he said the last words of _care about it_.

“So you don’t like me as your soulmate?” asked Yugyeom, apprehensive, Youngjae laughed.

“You really didn’t pay attention to what I was saying, did you?”

“I’m scared that I might have missed it.”

“You’re scared? I might point out that I did witness you spacing out, your eyes did a thing where they were clearly unfocused while staring outside the window and your mouth hung slightly open until you came back to planet Earth, _I_ am the one to feel scared that you might have missed, not only a little, but _all_ of it.”

“Fine,” Yugyeom complained and let go of Youngjae’s hands. “I didn’t get any of it because I got distracted.”

“May I inquire what said distraction was?” Youngjae intertwined his fingers in front of his chin and Yugyeom gulped, was he really willing to share his fear he had been mulling over with him? Was it because Youngjae was indeed his soulmate or because Yugyeom thought that by being his soulmate he could tell anything to him? Both sounded the same and Yugyeom closed his eyes and opened them in a span of very few seconds, Youngjae still looking at him, waiting for a response. “You don’t need to tell me.”

“I’m scared,” Yugyeom said - Youngjae smiled and whispered that _you already said that, so I already knew it_. “That you don’t believe in soulmates , that you’re just curious about who’s the loser with your name written somewhere in their body and once you’re done killing your curiosity, you’re going to say that you don’t want it. That that’s the reason to why you never came up to me and said anything.”

Youngjae listened to everything without uttering a single word, he nodded his head and crossed his arms, pursued his lips and closed his eyes every once in awhile. Yugyeom didn’t say much but it was enough to get his hands shaking and fears surfacing once again.

“Look,” Youngjae said and rested both hands side by side on top of the table in between them. “I think you might have misunderstood my actions and way of thinking,” Youngjae’s smile was gentle as he placed his hand on top of Yugyeom’s. “It’s just that my mother told me too much about soulmates, how she wished for me to be happy because she wanted me to experience the same happiness as her, but then, my mom and my dad got divorced for reasons unknown by me at the time,” Yugyeom kept his gaze on their hands as Youngjae spoke. “I didn’t know until it was too late that my dad hadn’t been so well, so he made something up for my mom’s sake, he passed away two years later and, up to now, she sometimes talks to herself when she’s alone since he was always there to listen to her, she talks to herself because she’s lonely. Because I am not my dad and even if I am close to her, I will never fill in a blank space that had a shape. That was unrelated, truly, and I don’t know what my point is anymore, but every time I think about it, I feel uneasy and scared.”

“I’m sorry,” Yugyeom pouted and rested his chin on the table, letting go of Youngjae’s hands. “I think I was inconvenient.”

“I think we’ve had our quota of sorrys said in a day,” Yugyeom tried to look up without shifting from his position, craning his neck to get a better view. “I wish you won’t feel bad for what I just told you but,” he coughed into his fist and looked away. “Since we’re, uhm, soulmates and all of that, I thought I could let you know.”

“Hey,” after a long pause, Yugyeom finally said something. “Why did you say sorry when we first met?”

“Ah, that,” Youngjae laughed and wiped a fake tear from his left eye. “It’s mostly because I don’t have a good reputation around the campus, since I get into fist fights and a whole lot more of trouble often,” he watched the frightened look on Yugyeom’s face and covered his mouth to not make much noise. “I’m joking, I hope you didn’t take me seriously,” he snorted and Yugyeom remained with that same perplexed expression painting his features. “But for real, it’s because like you might have noticed, I’m not a social person.”

“Didn’t seem like it though.”

“But it’s true, I am not,” Youngjae agreed with himself. “I don’t like parties, so whenever someone invited me, I would turn them down and by now they gave up and isolated me from their groups too. I do the projects by myself, the teacher allowed me to do group projects alone because everyone tries to ride on my boat without doing anything and because I am a huge nerd. Mostly because of the last part, so as a pretty cool person, I don’t think you’d like to hang out with me.”

“But, Youngjae,” Yugyeom said but was interrupted by Youngjae’s frown and an annoyed _hyung_ directed to himself. “Youngjae….. _hyung_?”

“Better.”

“No, that sounds ugly,” Youngjae kept the frown as Yugyeom attempted to talk - but ended up laughing a little. “As I was saying, I don’t really mind! Haven’t you noticed that I even hang out with Jaebum hyung and Jinyoung hyung?”

“Yes, I did. Why won’t you use the hyung? I am older and you should pay me some respect.”

“I will call you hyung if you tell me why you never told me you were my soulmate earlier.” Yugyeom proposed and Youngjae leaned against the chair, playing with his fingers and looking outside the window for a split of a second.

“I thought it was a question of choice, I wasn’t about to impose me being your soulmate all of a sudden, I thought that waiting and seeing how you’d react once you knew it was me would do it,” said Youngjae and Yugyeom listened to him intently. “You didn’t look that happy when you discovered it was me.”

“Hey!! That was because you looked unhappy by knowing it was me!” Yugyeom protested and Youngjae let out an ugly snort. “I was just surprised.”

“Because I am a loser.” Youngjae added.

“Because you are a loser,” nodded Yugyeom, Youngjae was baffled. “And we spent too much time in here and I have classes starting in,” he checked his clock and did some math. “About fifteen minutes, I’m going to buy some bread and then head to the assigned classroom.”

“Let me go with you,” Youngjae got up and dusted his spotless pants, Yugyeom started thinking that he might have a thing for cleaning and organization. “I have to check this book out but it won’t take longer than a minute.”

Yugyeom stopped on his tracks. When did Youngjae even get a hold of that book? He shook his head and followed him.

“Youngjae _hyung_ ,” Yugyeom said once they were out, cold wind here and there and his hands trying to warm themselves up with his hot breath on them. “Hey, don’t give me that look, you’re the one who asked for me to call you hyung.”

“I think I’m taking it back, it sounds gross,” Youngjae shivered, Yugyeom assumed it wasn’t due to the wind, but mostly because of the _hyung_ Youngjae bothered him about earlier. “What are you looking at?”

Caught by surprise, Yugyeom averted his eyes from Youngjae’s hands holding a new book and tried to focus on something else, nothing around them managed to do it, so he just said what was on his mind. “Can I like, hold your hand or something?”

Youngjae snorted, Yugyeom felt like he would be seeing that kind of reaction pretty often.

“Only for a minute,” he said as he freed one of his hands and extended it towards Yugyeom. “I will be counting.”

He took Youngjae’s cold hand into his and sighed happily, squeezing it once before they started walking towards the nearest bakery.

“I could get used to this,” Yugyeom said after a while and Youngjae shot him a questioning look. “This.”

“Get ready to be called the loser’s soulmate,” he said and Yugyeom shrugged, smiling widely at him. “BEEEP! Your time’s up, let go of my hand.”

“Hyuuuuuuung!” Yugyeom whined and Youngjae groaned, trying to push him away.

 _Definitely_ , Yugyeom told himself, _not only me, but I will make him get used to this, slowly, surely._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!!!


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